Foliage at Mariawald

I do some of these tree studies every summer. I want to capture the true colors of trees in sunlight or in other types of environmental light. Photoshop really gives me a leafy advantage because it can simulate an infinite amount of different leafy textures, using the "scatter" option. So I can encode the summer forest into my computer for consolation six months from now in the dead of winter. Which I dread like the plague.

This was done on site at Mariawald, which is the retreat center and convent where I spent my weekend with my Order of St. Michael religious group. "On site" here must be qualified. I was sitting in my pleasant room with the computer on the table and looking out the window at the same view that I depicted in colored pencils (see entry of July 13). So this can not be called "plein air" art, since I wasn't outside sitting in the blazing sunlight getting bitten by bugs. Not only that, I added a lot to this study back in the studio. No plein air. Bad artist.

Photoshop, 10" x 7", July 2010.